A new play, co-devised by two Leeds academics and the Look Left Look Right theatre company, is using ordinary people's own words to explore attitudes to voting and democracy.
"Every play needs a crisis at the beginning and the crisis we examine in Counted is that nobody's voting," says Professor Steve Bottoms (School of English). "The London production of Counted is being produced by the Roundhouse arts centre and will be staged in the old debating chamber of County Hall, right across the river from Parliament. So, we're really bringing the voices of people from the peripheries right into the centre of power, where we hope they'll be heard.
"The key statistic is that in 2005 only 37% of people in 18-30 age group voted, but this year less than half people in that age group are even registered. So, if that pattern continues, what does that mean for democracy? We could be in danger of losing it completely. People's complete disengagement with the political process doesn't seem to be taken seriously so we wanted to address that in Counted.
"The play is called Counted because it's about voting and people's votes being counted, but the title extends to include whether people feel as if they count in the world. We hope that it raises questions about how we get people engaged in the democratic process and create a political system that invites participation, rather than puts people off."
Counted is a verbatim play, using people's own words to examine attitudes and experiences of voting in the UK. Ideas and opinions from a wide range of people of different ethnicity, age, gender and background were gathered in a series of interviews by Professor Stephen Coleman (Institute of Communication Studies). He asked interviewees from around the Leeds and West Yorkshire area to talk about how they feel about voting and the voting process in the UK. The interviews were then adapted by Professor Bottoms for the play.
Counted is being staged by the theatre company 'Look Left Look Right', and Professor Bottoms worked with the company's directors and co-devisers Ben Freedman and Mimi Poskitt over several months to ensure the play accurately reflected people's opinions.
"We were keen to ensure that we fairly represented all the people whose voices and views feature in the play. Some people expressed, to my mind, quite bigoted opinions, but that doesn't mean that they don't say other things that are worth considering. Through careful editing of what people said, I hope we've highlighted some really interesting ideas about democracy."
After its premier in London, the production moves to the West Yorkshire Playhouse from 25-29 May before touring.
For more details, visit www.wyplayhouse.co.uk
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